- Families of US sailors denounce Trump and Hegseth for “dismissing their experiences and calling them liars”
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Naval families with loved ones deployed for months on US warships amid the Iran war have reacted with fury to Donald Trump and the defense secretary Pete Hegseth’s dismissal of their concerns about the extreme pressures and dire conditions they are enduring. … The USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier with more than 5,000 sailors and marines onboard, has been at sea for nearly nine months, having begun its deployment in November. There have been reports of multiple suicide attempts including jumping overboard. When Trump was asked on Friday whether naval families were worried about conditions on board, he replied: ‘No, they’re not.’ He said that the Lincoln’s deployment, now in its ninth month, was ‘not nearly long enough’. Earlier, Hegseth also swatted away families’ concerns, saying that the reality onboard the Lincoln had been ‘completely misrepresented’.” (08/16/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/16/navy-families-denounce-trump-hegseth
- Trump Regime Asks SCOTUS to Greenlight White House Ballroom Boondoggle
Sourc: New York Times
“The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to bless the construction of President Trump’s White House ballroom to replace the demolished East Wing. The planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom has been mired in litigation ever since the president tore down the East Wing in October as part of his plan to dramatically remake the White House campus. But the courts have let Mr. Trump build even while questioning the project’s legality, allowing the ballroom to steadily rise in recent months. The administration’s request for intervention from the nation’s highest court comes after an appeals court said on Aug. 7 that the president had most likely exceeded his authority by moving ahead with the privately financed project without approval from Congress.” (08/14/26)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/14/us/politics/trump-ballroom-white-house-supreme-court.html
- Burning Man launches unprecedented promotion two weeks before gates open
Source: SFGate
“With two weeks to go before the gates to Burning Man’s Black Rock City swing open, organizers of the famously dusty desert bacchanal have launched an unprecedented promotion: Buy a bus seat from San Francisco or Reno to the event, and it comes with access to the lowest-cost general admission ticket. ‘We know that the decision to participate in Black Rock City can happen at the last minute, so we’re making a limited number of $550 lower-priced ‘Get the Gift’ tickets available to participants traveling to BRC as part of a Burner Express Bus (BXB) bundle,’ a Burning Man spokesperson told SFGATE by email. ‘The BXB program makes it easier and more affordable to get to Black Rock City, while helping reduce the environmental impact of travel — easing traffic and decreasing the number of vehicles on the roads.'” (08/15/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/burning-man-ticket-deal-22388715.php
- Amazon reinstates binding arbitration, bars class-action lawsuits
Source: Reuters
“Amazon on Friday reinstated binding arbitration for its U.S. customers while also barring them from seeking class-action lawsuits, making it more difficult for users to address grievances in court. In emails on Friday, Amazon said the changes are effective immediately and customers agree to the terms by continuing to use the company’s services. Often, companies alert customers to upcoming changes to their terms of service weeks in advance. Previously, Amazon said customers should pursue legal claims in court in Washington state, where Amazon is based. Five years ago, Amazon revoked binding arbitration after facing tens of thousands of costly individual cases.” (08/15/26)
- Morocco: Regime abducts dozens of migrants trying to cross into Ceuta
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Moroccan authorities have intercepted dozens of migrants seeking to cross into the Spanish North African exclave of Ceuta, reports say. More than 100 people were blocked trying to make their way to the border on the outskirts of the town of Fnideq, according to Moroccan security sources cited by Spanish media and the Reuters news agency. It comes a fortnight after roughly 78,000 migrants arrived in the exclave by sea in a matter of hours – 100 of whom died, according to the city’s mayor, who also said the vast majority of arrivals had returned to Morocco. Security had been stepped up in the area after the influx and amid suggestions on social media of a second mass crossing attempt this weekend. The security sources said 111 people had been detained in or around Fnideq – known in Spanish as Castillejos – about 3km (1.8 miles) from the border, the majority of whom were from sub-Saharan Africa.” (08/15/26)
- UK: Jason Arday, ex-Cambridge professor at centre of plagiarism scandal, found dead
Source: Reuters
“Jason Arday, a former University of Cambridge professor who was at the centre of a plagiarism scandal, has died aged 41. Arday had resigned earlier this month as a professor of sociology of education following the accusations, which caused a furore in the world of academia. He was the university’s youngest ever [b]lack professor. … A high-profile professor who appeared frequently in the media, Arday faced accusations this year that parts of his 2015 PhD thesis were plagiarised, which he denied. The allegations expanded to include apparent inconsistencies in Arday’s other academic work, and questions over his claims about his career, personal life and medical conditions.” (08/14/26)
- Tax Supporters Falsely Define “Cost” and “Lose”
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“Normally when we speak of ‘losing’ something or ‘costing’ something, it’s in terms of already having that thing. You lose $50 on a bet, or a steak dinner costs you $50. Using the definition preferred by supporters of ever-increasing government revenue, though, I ‘lost’ thousands of dollars yesterday when I walked past a bank instead of walking in, waving a gun at the tellers, and taking all the cash from their drawers. It ‘cost’ me thousands of dollars. And committing to not robbing every bank I happen to walk past in the future ‘costs’ me too. I’m ‘losing’ all that money! Oh, the humanity! … even if one supports taxation for the purpose of funding government operations, it’s beyond dishonest to claim that cutting, or just not raising, taxes is a ‘cost’ or a ‘loss’ to government.” (08/15/26)
- The Right To Be Left Alone
Source: Antiwar.com
by Andrew P Napolitano“The rapid spread of public surveillance cameras represents something far more consequential than a new piece of police technology. It represents a fundamental change in the relationship between the individual and the state. These cameras allow government agents to record, identify, catalog and retroactively track the movements of people who have committed no crime, are suspected of no wrongdoing and have done nothing to invite government scrutiny. That’s not public safety. It’s an assault upon individual privacy. Privacy is not a privilege granted by government. It is an aspect of personal liberty that government exists to protect. It is a natural human right protected from the government in the Bill of Rights. The fact that a person leaves his home and travels upon a public road does not mean that he has surrendered that right.” (08/14/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2026/08/13/the-right-to-be-left-alone-2/
- Decentralization is Insurance
Source: Aaron Ross Powell
by Aaron Ross Powell“[D]ecentralization prevents a lot. The idea is that because you control and own your own data, and because the entire network isn’t owned by a single person or company, you have long-term freedom that can’t get taken away by the whims of the company behind whatever platform you’re using. On a centralized and closed platform, if ownership shuts it down or changes it in ways you find intolerable, you’ve got two options: stick it out and suffer or leave and lose all your friends. On a decentralized and open network, if the particular piece of it you’re on (the server, the app) shuts it down or changes it in ways you find intolerable, you’ve got a third option: head somewhere else, but keep your connections to all your friends. … Decentralization is, in other words, insurance. And that’s why it’s such a hard sell.” (08/14/26)
- What can Libertarians Learn from Foucault?
Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Winton Bates“Before reading Mark Pennington’s recent book, Foucault and Liberal Political Economy: Power, Knowledge, and Freedom, it would not have occurred to me that libertarians could learn anything from the social theories of Michel Foucault. Pennington has persuaded me that some beliefs associated with Foucault, and postmodernism more generally, are not devoid of merit. As will be discussed below, however, the beliefs that he identifies as postmodern differ somewhat from the collection of beliefs that I have hitherto associated with postmodernism.” (08/16/26)
https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2026/08/what-can-libertarians-learn-from.html
- Ninety-One Years of Social Security: The Case for Personal Retirement Accounts
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey‘FDR signed the program into law in 1935. Demographic shifts and federal spending created trillions in unfunded liabilities. Private accounts offer a direct path to real wealth.” (08/14/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/ninety-one-years-of-social-security
- Stop funding school systems; let the money follow the child
Source: Fox News
by Stephen Moore & Ed Pozzuoli“The Watergate-era maxim still applies today: follow the money. In American education, the question is not how much money is spent, but where the money goes. Does funding follow institutions, or does it follow children? Does it serve adult interests, or truly benefit students? This distinction increasingly explains why some states spend more without producing better results, while others see academic gains by empowering parents with meaningful educational choices. New York City is a striking example. In 2024, its Department of Education spent roughly $40 billion, about $36,000 per pupil, one of the highest levels in the nation. Despite this massive investment, student literacy outcomes remain dire. Recent reports found that in 503 of 906 NYC schools studied, most students failed both reading and math exams. State data revealed only 29% of eighth graders were proficient in reading.” (08/14/26)
- Liberalism Is the Underdog Now, and it’s Time to Act Like It
Source: The UnPopulist
by Andy Craig“Trump’s populist style ensures he will always try to project himself as the outsider on a crusade against ‘the establishment’—but as his party’s nominee in the last three presidential elections, and as a winner of two of them, he has no business portraying his movement as the rebellion when it is actually the empire. It’s time liberals made that clear by embracing an underdog spirit befitting liberalism’s new underdog reality.” (08/15/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/liberalism-is-the-underdog-now-and
- Trump’s “Low-Key” Economic Strategy Won’t Work
Source: The American Conservative
by Ivan Eland“Although President Donald Trump is unable to publicly admit that ‘mistakes were made’ in his war with Iran—as American leaders sometimes describe their own blunders—he seems to be implicitly acknowledging that the military strategy he pursued has failed. He’s moving to a new strategy of extracting concessions from Iran via economic coercion, rather than bombing. Trump has described this as a ‘low-key’ and longer-term approach to the conflict. … Trump’s strategy of wearing Iran down economically would seemingly require him to keep the blockade and sanctions in place and the assets frozen, and certainly rules out providing war reparations. Moreover, the strategy isn’t truly ‘new’—America has long maintained economic pressure on Iran—and there’s little reason to suppose it will work now.” (08/15/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trumps-low-key-economic-strategy-wont-work/
- Japan eyes nonartificial intelligence
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“In trying to hatch their own artificial intelligence, many countries are playing catch-up to the two world giants: the United States and China. In recent months, however, Japan has taken a different course. It admits it cannot create the most advanced AI models. Yet it might be the first nation to put AI at the center of a new economic strategy. In late July, Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s Cabinet approved a plan to inject $2.3 trillion in public and private investment toward strengthening key industries by 2040, starting with AI and the computer chips that run it. The plan goes beyond merely automating current work, improving efficiencies, cutting costs, or boosting the economy. It would also enhance human creativity and innovation by focusing on applying AI to real-world problems – starting on the factory floor of Japan’s existing world-class manufacturing industries.” (08/14/26)
- Sex and the Socialist Girl
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D WilliamsonThere is a difference between reporting and storytelling, and the story many observers wanted to tell this summer—that this primary season is a referendum on the ideological future of the Democratic Party—is at least in part at odds with the reported facts. Sometimes the DSA wackadoodle pulls it out, sometimes the relatively sober municipal-government guy takes the win. That’s the thing about elections: Whatever you may hear on the internet, they really are not fixed—on Election Day, things can go either way. … The general consensus among psephologists is that female major-party candidates do about as well as male major-party candidates for federal office, ceteris paribus. But the picture gets a little more complicated when you start asking the right questions.” (08/14/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/sex-socialism-hong-stevens-women/
- Maniacal “Mangionistas” think he’s a martyr, but really he’s just a sad-sack loser
Source: New York Post
by Kirsten Fleming“He’s guilty as sin. Luigi Mangione has now admitted his role in the brazen murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson back in December of 2024. ‘I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died,’ Mangione declared Friday morning in Manhattan Federal Court. Those chilling words should put the 28-year-old behind bars for life. However, among his depraved army of fangirls, Mangione’s guilty plea only bolsters his status as a righteous warrior. As one self-declared ‘Mangionista’, 27-year-old Abril Rios, said outside the courthouse: ‘I see it more of a revolutionary act of protest, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the civil rights era.’ Another dimwit gushed that she and the killer used the same sleeping medication, calling it ‘a little bonding moment.'” (08/14/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/08/14/opinion/luigi-mangione-is-no-martyr-hes-a-cold-blooded-murderer/
- The evolution of governments into aristocratic forms
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton“When a crisis is upon a society, it is natural to seek those who can and will take charge. And rapidly, silence and neuter those who are unwilling to join into a ‘common effort’ led by those emergent leaders. In some cases (even some recorded in history), once the crisis is resolved, that leadership steps back, retires. (The classical example is Cincinnatus of Rome. We might also consider Devorah of Issachar and Barak of Naphtali or other Judges of Israel, such as Gideon of Manassah. Some point to George Washington of Virginia.) But what we see the most is those in power who retained and even increased their power after the crisis was resolved. Octavian (Augustus), Gideon’s son Abimelech, Napoleon Bonaparte, Santa Ana de Lopez, are a few that come to mind.” (08/15/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/08/15/the-evolution-of-governments-into-aristocratic-forms/
- Today In Dystopia: Flock Camera Tyranny And Sam Altman Surveillance
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Today in dystopia, the US government is monitoring the social media accounts of individuals who oppose the rapidly spreading installation of Flock surveillance cameras throughout the United States. … Mass surveillance is dramatically escalating around the world as the public grows increasingly discontented with the soul-crushing, planet-devouring, murderous abuses of the imperial status quo. In order to keep us subjugated, they need to control us. In order to control us, they need to spy on us. That’s what all these surging authoritarian measures are all about. … Today in dystopia, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says we are not far off from artificial intelligence monitoring every facet of our lives 24/7 in order to give it more ‘context’ for the assistance it can offer us throughout our day.” (08/14/26)
- Unattended Baggage, episode 352
Source: Unattended Baggage
“US Navy: It’s what’s for dinner!” (08/15/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-352-us-navy-its-whats-for
- Free Talk Live, 08/15/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“Politician steals from taxpayers and is caught :: Jason Arday professor in Cambridge who didn’t earn his position fairly kills himself :: Arday had lied about being mute and sports achievements and his attendance at various universities :: DEI and woke’s dark side :: FSP in the news :: Atilis Gym owner in NJ used Kickstarter to fund his fight against gov during Covid :: FlockHopper.com to search for cams near you :: haveibeenflocked.com/ to check if a cam has spotted you and a cop searched your LP number :: Fighting for free speech to have a license that says FTP&ATF :: WhatNot app. Gambling? Only a crime without a license :: 2026-08-15 Hosts: Bonnie, Chris R.” (08/15/26)
- Kinsella on Liberty, episode 496
Source: StephanKinsella.com
“Matt Sands and Kinsella on the Universal Principles of Liberty and the Nations of Sanity ‘Peace Agreement.’” (08/15/26)